


Stay

by Valentined



Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 09:33:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17506073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valentined/pseuds/Valentined
Summary: “I’m not leaving the planet.”





	Stay

“I’m not leaving the planet,” I said, one hand moving up and down one of the Emperor’s exterior faceplates. “I’m going to stay here.”

She heaved a breath, body shuddering slightly at the strain. _You are of the stars,_ she asserted. Her voice was still strong, but I knew that this wasn’t at all like the movies or books I’d read as a kid. Her mind was still awake, strong and present; even if her body was failing, her voice would be strong until the end. _Surely you wish to return. Surely there is something out there among the dark that you miss._

“Of course.” My hand stilled as I took a moment to gather the words I needed to properly explain myself, the situation. “But…my people, especially the ones I worked for, aren’t the best people.” She opened both eyes on the side closest to me, the light gleaming from within even dimmer this time. It dimmed a little every visit, every time I came to see her, every time I wondered if this was truly goodbye.

_You believe they are like the ones that came before, who built this place, who hurt so many of my children in trying to save themselves._

I didn’t need to nod, we both knew she was right. I knew that my thoughts weren’t exactly an open book to the Emperor, but it was easy for her to pick out the information that sat in the forefront, things I intended to explain. It made it easier for me, honestly, especially after so much time in my own head. It had been a long time since I’d had to explain a complex concept like capitalism to someone, and I’d never had to explain it to someone so indescribably different from myself as the Emperor.

“They would want to use this place, just like the aliens that were here before did. The reasons wouldn’t be the same, maybe, but it could do just as much damage.” The soil of this planet was rich with tons upon tons of raw diamond, gold, silver, copper—Alterra, while reluctant to dispatch a ship to save myself and the rest of the Aurora’s crew when they thought we were just on some distant, useless world, would swoop in like a dragon on a Cyclops the moment they found out this planet could make them even more indescribably rich and powerful than they already were. I was sure that my PDA was still logging a tally of credits owed for all the valuable materials I’d been using here as an employee of Alterra.

That wasn’t even addressing the other possible “resources” they could find here. What else could the enzyme produced by the Sea Emperors do? What else were these great telepathic leviathans capable of?

_You fear for my children._

I was quiet for a minute. “You held on for too long for me to let anyone hurt them now that they’re free.” To feel protective of a species that hatched larger than me might have been paradoxical, but I knew what the Emperor had been through. I knew what the children were up against. I couldn’t allow anyone else to take advantage of them, not when I had the power to stop it from happening.

The Emperor breathed, the click of my rebreather starting in time with her long, shaky inhale.

_What if they come looking for you? They may send more of your little boxes down from the stars to—oh._ She cut off, doubtless sensing my decision on that particular matter.

“Yeah,” I murmured, to myself as much as to her. “I…haven’t tried to deactivate the quarantine on the planet.”

My tank was running low, I would have to jump back into the seamoth soon. I preferred talking to the Emperor up close like this, where I could touch her and feel her and she could know—even if she was too tired to open her eyes—that I wanted to be there for her in every way I could.

“If anyone else comes, they’ll get shot down just like we did.”

She exhaled again, her massive body seeming to relax further.

_Perhaps we are not so different,_ she said at last. _The ones who came before imprisoned us both, and we both stay._


End file.
